


Outsmarted

by tnh1722



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Good Parent Luke Garroway, Good Parent Maryse Lightwood, Intelligent Magnus and Alec, Lightwood Siblings Feels, M/M, Mentioned Arranged Marriage, Racism and Homophobia discussed, Well-Known Families, hints at PTSD, kidnapping/abduction, mentions of violence and blood, slight gun violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 13:42:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19870576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tnh1722/pseuds/tnh1722
Summary: The Lightwoods and the Garroways are prominent NYC famillies, especially with the recent election. However, that does not mean they are liked by everyone. When a group of men decides to take the matter into their own hands, it's up to Alec and Magnus to literally save their own lives.





	Outsmarted

Two years ago, Maryse Lightwood announced her candidacy for the New York City Mayor seat. She had been a well-known public defender for the majority of her career before serving as the District Attorney for the last five years. She campaigned with strong morals and promise of safety and security, not only physically but financially. She attended all community events with her husband and four well-mannered children. She was well-known for her active advocacy for fair education and equal opportunity. 

Two years ago, Luke Garroway announced his candidacy for the New York City Police Commissioner seat. He had been on the force since the day he graduated college and was a household name around the boroughs for his constant support of low-income neighborhoods and high-crime areas. He was active in the community as a volunteer for homeless shelters and after-school programs where he served with his wife and two wonderful children. 

Maryse and Luke ran for office in tandem as they were long-time friends since college who held many of the same values. They supported each other throughout their entire careers and grew as professionals together. They were often pictured together at events and their children were very close friends all through childhood. 

Their campaign was incredibly well supported by any of the age demographics of people above thirty years old. They were well known with those groups and shared most views that were specific with that range. They struggled with the 18-30 demographic for a majority of their campaign as they just couldn’t relate. Their children fell into this age range, however, that didn’t seem to help their cause at the start. Their luck changed four months ago when their sons, Alec and Magnus, publicly announced their engagement. 

Alec and Magnus had been best friends since they were in diapers, starting dating around their sophomore year of high school, and both just graduated college. Just as Alec had promised at their high school graduation, he proposed when they finished their bachelor’s degree. Alec intends to go to medical school and Magnus has already accepted his spot at NYU’s law school, but they know they are ready to be married. 

Alec and Magnus along with the rest of the Lightwood and Garroway children became pretty well-known public figures with their parents’ campaign. They were occasionally reported about in the local NY newspapers and were much more frequently found on NY social media. The younger demographic was entranced with Alec and Magnus’ relationship once it was documented to the public eye and the younger generation’s support grew exponentially when they were “official”. 

Of course, this sentiment wasn’t held with everyone. Some older people who previously supported had dropped off after hearing that the candidates had children in the LGBTQ+ community and were accepted by the family. Some people spoke out very strongly against them and started to protest the campaign until Maryse and Luke basically disowned their sons which they obviously did not do. 

In the end, they still had an overwhelming amount of support and they won both elections by a landslide. Maryse had just been sworn in as Mayor last weekend at the citywide dinner and now Luke’s pinning ceremony is occurring today. 

All of that would be the reason that Alec and Magnus now found themselves tied up to chairs in opposite rooms of a warehouse watching live camera feed of the other. 

\---

Alec was spending the day hanging out at the family home with his younger brother, Max, while his mother and sister, Isabelle, were out picking up their outfits for tonight’s dinner while his father was at work. His brother, Jace, was out with his girlfriend and Luke’s daughter, Clary, and Luke’s wife and Clary’s mother, Jocelyn, touring an art gallery that Clary wanted to see.

“Hey bud, can you grab me a water while you’re in the kitchen?” Alec called out from the living room where he and Max were watching a movie. He waited for an answer but was met with silence. “Max?” he asked again and heard nothing in response. “Maxie?”

A crash came from the kitchen that sounded like a dish shattering on the floor. Alec was off the couch in an instant, sprinting towards the kitchen. He was met with three intruders, all wearing masks and armed with handguns. Alec immediately put his hands in the air and approached slowly as he stared down the man holding Max around the neck. 

“Please, let him go. Take me instead. He’s just a kid, he’s only twelve years old. Please, I’ll go with you, whatever you want. I can get you money. Just please, let him go,” Alec pleaded as he watched tears fill Max’s eyes. Max was quietly begging Alec to stop, but Alec blatantly ignored Max as he begged for his little brother’s freedom. “Please…”

“Shut up! We don’t want the kid anyway. Come on, you’re coming with us,” The two other men grabbed Alec’s arms and started dragging him out of the kitchen. 

“Alec, no! Please, don’t hurt him!” Max cried out, the tears spilling over as he watched his big brother disappear around the corner. 

The third man released him but shoved him to the ground while holding the gun towards him. “You are going to stay here and you are not going to call the police. If we see cops, we kill him. Got it?” 

Max nodded profusely and curled up on the kitchen floor. “Okay, sure, no police. Just please get your money and let him go. Don’t hurt him.” 

“I’ll think about...if he gives me what I want,” the intruder said as he rounded the corner after the two who had taken Alec out. Eventually a door slammed shut somewhere and the house was silent. 

Max scrambled off the floor to the living room searching for his phone. He tore apart the couches until he realized it was in his pocket. His hands were shaking so much that he dropped his phone three times before he successfully dialed his mother’s number. “Mama! Mama, please, you gotta come home! They-the men-Alec’s gone…” Max rattled out as soon as he heard the call pick up. 

“Max, sweetheart, slow down. What about Alec?” Maryse replied calmly as she took Isabelle by the hand and pulled her towards their car. 

“These men, they had on masks a-and they had guns. He grabbed me, but Alec…” Max struggled out before taking a break to choke back a sob. “A-Alec begged them to take h-him instead. They took him..they dragged him out of the house and they said not to call the cops because he would...he’s going to...k-kill…” Max cut off completely this time as he cried until Maryse and Isabelle came barrelling through the front door of the Lightwood house. 

\---

Magnus felt disoriented as he was pulled from a vehicle after being dragged out of his driveway with a bag over his head. He had just gotten home from picking up his shoes for the ceremony that night when the men rushed him as he stepped out of his car. He was thrown into a van that drove for awhile until they ended up wherever they are now. 

When the bag was removed, he saw that he was alone in a room, tied to a chair, with a camera and TV screen in front of him. Another five silent minutes passed as he called out for anyone to answer him and received no response when the TV flicked on revealing what seemed to be live footage of his fiancé in another room in the exact same position as him. 

Magnus had heard years of “training” from his father of how to handle situations like these so he did his best not to react. He tried his best to keep his face blank and offered no break in his resolve even though he could feel his heart stutter at the thought of Alec being hurt. The resolve became harder to maintain when two men entered Alec’s room and he heard Alec’s stressed voice come through. 

“Is Max okay? Did you hurt him? Is he okay?!” Alec asked without hesitation as soon as the door opened. Neither of the men answered him so Alec continued. “Hey assholes! I asked if my little brother was okay. Is he safe?” 

Magnus felt his breath hitch when a third man entered the room and quickly made his way directly towards Alec, punching him in the mouth. He didn’t hear a sound from Alec, but he could see the blood dribble from Alec’s lip down his chin. The man who punched Alec said, “The kid is fine. We left him at the house, didn’t want him anyway. Just shut your damn mouth unless we ask you to speak,” in a gruff voice before leaving the room. 

Magnus tried to push the anxiety from his mind and focus on the part where the man said ‘they didn’t want him’. That means he and Alec were specifically targeted if the kidnappers did not take or want to take Max. 

With this information, Magnus came to two different conclusions. One, the men thought that Magnus and Alec would be worth the most to the families to receive compensation or two, the men are ignorant in some way and are using their relationship to target their parents’ new office seats. Magnus was assuming it was the second option as the men could get more money if they had taken both Lightwoods from their home instead of leaving Max behind. 

Magnus decided he would work this angle and hoped that Alec would catch on, assuming that they are letting Alec watch him as well. The door swung open suddenly, breaking Magnus’ train of thought as he jumped at the sound. “What do you want?” he asked firmly. 

\---

Alec had his eyes glued to the screen showing Magnus, keeping his face as stoic as possible. Much like Magnus, Alec’s parents had grilled into him how to handle situations if he was ever threatened. He was struggling to keep his cool as his anger was growing, but he knew the men would become violent if he spoke out and he didn’t want to cause Magnus any pain. 

“What do you want?” he heard Magnus say, the first words Magnus had spoken since they had been taken. Alec tensed waiting for someone to strike Magnus for speaking out of turn, but it thankfully never happened. 

“We want someone in office who actually deserves to be there, not some Hispanic bitch and black dude” one man said in tone just as firm as Magnus’.

Magnus resisted the urge to scream and call him every condescending name he could think of. “And how am I supposed to help with that?” 

“You call your father and tell him to step down or shoot your jerk of a fiancé over there,” the man answered as he pointed to the image of Alec streaming on the screen. 

It took all of Magnus’ emotional will to shrug his shoulders at that statement. “My dad has been working for this is whole life. Why would I ruin that for an arranged marriage?” 

Both men seemed caught off guard by his response. So much so that they left the room without saying anything else and slammed the door behind them. Magnus then tensed as he watched the men storm into Alec’s room. 

“What is he talking about? No one ever said this was arranged,” one of the kidnappers shouted as he waved a gun around towards Alec. Magnus felt his stomach drop at the thought of them shooting Alec. 

“Why would we say it’s an arranged marriage when it was just to help our parents’ campaign? That’s the whole point, idiot,” Alec answered, his tone exasperated and annoyed which earned him another hit to the face. 

“God, this one has a fucking mouth on him,” the man grumbled as he left the room shaking out his hand from the hit. Magnus knew that Alec was acting this way in an effort to make sure he took all the hits instead of Magnus. While he appreciated the gesture of his partner’s protective nature, he would have words with Alec about this when all this is over. 

The same guy who hit Alec entered Magnus’ room and at this point, Magnus had determined that this guy was probably the one in charge. Magnus figured the best way to get out of this was to stall this guy into talking more. “So what exactly do you want from me? Just to call my dad and ask him to step down?”

“Just shut up, I’m asking the questions here,” the man replied harshly as he started pacing. Magnus realized the guy was starting to lose his confidence pretty quickly. “Why would you agree to an arranged marriage? Especially to a man…”

Magnus yet again had to resist rolling his eyes. These idiots were racist and homophobic, how wonderful. “Maryse Lightwood is extremely connected in the New York justice department. I’m going to law school and she promised me she would have me in the District Attorney’s office as soon as I graduated. I get to help my dad get into office and secure my career. Who cares about the rest?” 

“All you rich kids are the same. It’s all about the money. It’s disgusting.”

“Say what you will, but I’m building my career and mapping out my life. All I had to do was keep up the engagement until the election anyway. We were going to publically split after Christmas,” Magnus explained as he felt like crying on the inside. All he could do was hope that he and Alec could put this behind them after it was all over. The last thing he could handle would be losing Alec at the end of this. 

The man cursed under his breath and stomped out of the room, probably to rethink things. Magnus watched the screen intently, cringing as the blood on Alec’s chin dripped onto his shirt. What felt like hours had passed in silence before the entire place went dark. Magnus immediately tensed when he heard gunshots from outside the room. 

\---

Maryse couldn’t stop the tears as she watched the SWAT team breach the warehouse. How Luke managed to track the boys down so quickly she will never know, but she will always be grateful. Jocelyn stood next to her holding her hand as Robert spoke to another officer. She kept thinking about her kids and what would happen if their family lost Alec. Her oldest son was their rock and it could be the one thing that would tear them apart. 

Luke had been repressing the urge to vomit since the minute a detective informed him that his son had been reported missing. A neighbor had witnessed the men take Magnus from his car and had immediately called the cops. Between that witness and Max Lightwood, Luke was able to deduce fairly quickly the group behind this. 

As the team made their way through the warehouse successfully taking out the targets, Luke just prayed that they found Magnus and Alec safe. He didn’t know how either family would go on if they lost them. He was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard a resounding ‘clear’ come from ahead of him. 

Luke led a team down a smaller hallway in the warehouse that seemed to be offices. They made their way down the hall, kicking in every door and each coming up empty until they got to the last two rooms that were across from each other. He heard a voice on one side, whereas the other side was quiet so he motioned to the quiet door first. 

A SWAT officer kicked the door open and Luke felt the tension lift from his shoulders when he was met with his son alive and unharmed. “Magnus, thank God,” Luke breathed out as he ran over and started untying the ropes. He pulled Magnus into a hug as his son cried into his shoulder and clung to him. 

“Sir, you need to take your son out. We have a hostage situation over here,” the team leader ordered. Luke looked up to see a few officers backing out of the room at the gunman’s order. He felt Magnus’ knees give out and he pulled his son towards the door while Magnus cried into his shoulder once again. 

The two made it outside and Jocelyn’s face lit up as she ran to hold Magnus in her arms. Luke couldn’t help but feel torn between his wife’s happiness and the absolute heartbreak on Maryse’s face that her son wasn’t with them. 

“L-Luke…where’s Alec? No...no, no, no, my boy” Maryse let out as she collapsed into Robert’s waiting arms. Luke went to her side and tried to calm her saying that Alec was alive and his men were going to get him out. Maryse nodded and tried to be positive. She went to Magnus and clung to him whispering something that no one heard but resulted in both of them crying. 

Magnus went back to hugging his parents as Robert held Maryse when the sound of gunshots could be heard from inside. The entire parking lot outside of the warehouse was absolutely pindrop silent aside from Maryse and Magnus’ crying sniffles. 

A minute later, there was cheering heard from the police officers surrounding when Alec was led out of the building by two SWAT officers. Aside from the cut on Alec’s forehead and the dried blood around his mouth, both hostages were completely safe. 

Magnus and Alec fell into each other’s arms and held on tighter than they ever had before. Both whispering their love to each other and Magnus making sure that Alec was alright. Alec kissed Magnus on the forehead before pulling away and looking for his mother. 

As soon as Maryse noticed that Alec was looking for her, she barrelled into him and cried into her son’s chest. “Mama,” Alec choked out as he held her, ducking his head into her hair and holding his hand out towards his father to join the embrace. 

“Oh God, I was so worried. I love you so much, baby,” Maryse struggled out as she was trying to even her breathing before she hyperventilated. She was aware of all the news stations around, but appearances were the last thing she cared about in this moment. She almost lost her boy, she deserved to be a mom right now and not the mayor. 

“Max!” Alec suddenly yelled out, startling not only his family but Magnus’ as well. “Is Max okay? Did they hurt him? I need to see him!”

Maryse shushed him as Robert assured him that Max was safe and unharmed at home with Isabelle, Jace, and Clary. Both of his parents continued to try and calm him before he settled down. 

“Can we go see him? Please, I’ll go to the hospital later and talk to whoever I have to talk to. I just need to see him first,” Alec said, his tone desperate. He felt another hand take his and looked up from his mother’s hair to see his fiance. 

“Of course, we can. I want to see him too. I was worried when you started asking about him,” Magnus answered before either of the parents could deny Alec of seeing Max. Alec smiled and pulled Magnus closer while he let Luke direct everyone to one of the police suburbans to drive them to the Lightwood house. 

\---

Alec took the stairs to their house two at a time and basically sprinted his way into the living room. Jace and Clary were instantly out of their seats, but Max had fallen asleep with his head in Izzy’s lap. Clary walked over to Alec and went up on her toes to kiss Alec’s cheek. “I’m so glad you are okay,” she whispered before stepping away and throwing herself into Magnus’ open arms. 

Jace made his way across the room and wrapped himself around Alec. Jace was shaking with emotion as he held onto his brother tightly. “I’m okay, J, I promise,” Alec whispered before he heard Jace release a long, relieved breath. They held the hug for another minute when Jace separated to hug Magnus and let Alec go to the other two siblings on the couch. 

Alec knelt down in front of Izzy and wrapped a hand around her head to bring their foreheads together since he couldn’t fully hug her. She sniffled causing Alec to pull back and kiss her hair before again whispering that he was okay and that he loved her. She replied the sentiment and let Alec turn his focus to Max. 

Alec rested a hand on Max’s chest and ran the other one through Max’s hair. “Hey bud, wake up,” he said quietly as he shook Max slightly. 

Max wriggled a little and furrowed his brow before opening his eyes. He shot off the couch and threw himself at Alec resulting in the two being piled on the floor. Alec held Max close to him as Max cried into his shoulder. “I love you, Maxie. I’m so glad you are safe. I’m okay,” Alec said softly as he pulled them both into a sitting position. 

Max pulled back allowing Alec to wipe the tears off his face. “I love you too, big brother. I was so scared when they took you. I...I thought I was n-never going to see you a-again…”

“Shh, it’s alright, Max. I’m right here, I’m fine, we’re both just fine. Everything is going to be okay,” Alec said as he rocked Max in a strong hug again while the rest of the family surrounded them in the living room. Magnus and Alec shared a look that finally settled something in both of them, a feeling of safety that had been severely lacking that day. A feeling of love that lifted the aches in their chest. 

\---

A year later finally brought some relief. The men who had kidnapped had been brought to trial, found guilty, and sentenced to serve time in prison. Alec and Magnus were able to breathe again without the feeling of lingering hesitation to be home alone or the thoughts of these men getting out and doing the same thing again. 

Magnus had trouble being anywhere alone, especially his car. Alec had nightmares nearly every night right after if happened. They had started to slow down, but he still dealt with them about once a week. Max had actually asked his parents to live with Alec for a couple weeks right after just to make sure that his brother was safe. Maryse and Luke both struggled with the decision to keep their seats in office if it put their kids at risk, but Alec and Magnus were adamant that they remain in the positions they earned. 

Alec and Magnus had done something that surprised the entire family and took a lot of consideration. They scheduled their wedding on the one year anniversary of the kidnapping. Many people attempted to talk them out of it, however, it ended up being a really great decision. The entire family would always first be reminded that Alec and Magnus were married on that date, not kidnapped. The negative thought with the day was always there, but the positive memory always won out. It was also a reminder of what they went through and overcame to be together. It was a day that love outsmarted ignorance.

**Author's Note:**

> I watch a lot of Criminal Minds. I think that is really the only explanation for this one.


End file.
